Christina Grimmie
Christina Victoria Grimmie '(born March 12, 1994; died June 11, 2016) was an American pop singer-songwriter and pianist from Marlton, New Jersey who finished in 3rd place on season 6 of The Voice USA, mentored by Adam Levine. Background Christina, who first started singing at age 5, first gained notice when she started posting videos of herself singing songs by artists such as Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Christina Aguilera, and others on YouTube under the name zeldaxlove64. Her videos proved to be so good that she kept going with it and had up to over 2 million subscribers on YouTube. In addition to her YouTube videos, Christina had also sang backup for Selena Gomez and The Scene and has even released an EP called ''Find Me ''and an album called ''With Love. One of Christina's inspriations was her mom, who has survived three bouts with breast cancer. Musical influences Christina cited Christina Aguilera and Beyonce as a couple of her musical influences. The Voice Christina auditioned for the show singing the Miley Cyrus hit "Wrecking Ball". Her excellent rendition got all four coaches - Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira, and Usher- to turn around. After hearing what each coach had to say, she picked Adam Levine to be her mentor. Battle rounds For this part of the competition, Christina went up against singer Joshua Howard on the Taylor Swift song "I Knew You Were Trouble", which had previously been covered by season 4 runner-up Michelle Chamuel. Sadly for viewers, the battle was montaged but did reveal that Christina won, resulting in her making it to part 2 of the Battle rounds. Battle rounds part 2 For this part, Christina went up against Sam Behymer on the OneRepublic hit "Counting Stars". Both girls gave it their all, making their coach Adam Levine's decision tough. Despite Blake Shelton thinking that Sam won and Shakira being undecided, Adam picked Christina to go to the live playoffs. Playoffs For this part of the show, Christina sang Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up", dedicating it to her mom. Her performance blew the coaches away and made Adam Levine's decision to have her move forward to the live shows an easy one. Live shows For the first live show, Christina took on the Katy Perry hit "Dark Horse". She blew all the coaches away with her performance especailly her own coach, Adam Levine, who said that he felt that he was watching a performance on the MTV Video Music Awards. She made it to the top 10. For the second live show, Christina took a major risk by singing the Drake hit, "Hold On, I'm Coming Home". She blew the coaches away, and Adam Levine even admitted that it was her idea to do the song, not his. He admitted how proud he was of her & how much she inspired him. It became her first top 10 hit on iTunes. She made it to the top 8. For the third live show, Christina took on the song "How to Love" by Lil Wayne at the suggestion of her coach Adam Levine. Despite her fears that this performance would be too much like the one she had done last week, Christina put everything she had into the song and got great reviews from the coaches. The song became her second top 10 hit on iTunes, peaking at number 4. She made it to the top 5. For the fourth live show, Christina took on two songs: "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap and "Some Nights" by Fun. Despite receiving priase from the coaches, both songs didn't chart high on iTunes, which had some critics worried because Christina had been the favorite all season. She ended up in the bottom 3 and had to sing for her spot in the finale, which she got via the "Instant Save". For the finals, Christina took on three songs, one of them a duet with her mentor Adam Levine. Her first two performances, "Can't Help Falling in Love" by the great Elvis Presley and a repeat of her blind auditon song, "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus, earned her praise from the judges. However her rendition of "Can't Help Falling in Love" got her in a bit of trouble with fans of season 13 American Idol ''contestant Jena Irene, who had had a moment with the song two weeks earlier even though both girls had sung different versions of it. Still, "Can't Help Falling in Love" charted at number 3 on iTunes while Christina's duet with Adam Levine, a cover of the Goyte/Kimbra hit "Somebody That I Used to Know", also charted in the top 10 on iTunes. Christina finished in 3rd place behind winner Josh Kaufman of Team Usher and runner-up Jake Worthington of Team Blake on May 20, 2014. Post The Voice Despite finishing in 3rd place, Adam Levine did intend to sign Christina to his label, 222 Records, even though rapper Lil Wayne admitted to being interested in signing her to his label, Young Money Entertainement. She ended up signing with Island Records. She recently took part on the Voice summer tour along with Josh, Jake, season 5 winner Tessanne Chin, Jacquie Lee, Will Champlin, season 1 runner-up Dia Frampton, and fellow season 6 finalists Kristen Merlin and Jake Barker. The tour kicked off on June 21, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. "Must Be Love" (2014-2015) Christina's first post-Voice single, "Must Be Love", was released on July 31, 2014. She performed the song on the day of its release on ''Good Morning LA. "Cliche" (2015-2016) On March 4, 2015, Christina announced that she had been dropped by Island Records. Despite that, her next single, "Cliche", was released on March 16, 2015 via LH7 Management. She released a new single, "Shrug", on July 2, 2015. She was working on a new album and playing gigs at the time of her death. Death On June 10, 2016, Christina was at the Plaza Live in Orlando, Florida opening for the band Before You Exit. She was signing autographs at a meet-&-greet when a gunman entered the venue with two loaded guns and fired, hitting her three times. The gunman, later identified by police as Kevin James Loibl, later killed himself. Christina was rushed to an Orlando hospital where she passed away on June 11, 2016. Her final EP, Side B, was released on April 21, 2017. Her final album, All is Vanity, ''''was released on June 9, 2017. Aftermath In the aftermath of her death as well as the Pulse nightclub shooting, Christina's friend, singer and fellow season 6 alum Bria Kelly, started a petition drive to pass a law called Christina's Law, which, if passed, would require nightclubs and other concert venues to strengthen security measures to ensure safety for concert goers as well as performers. Discography '''Singles: * "Must Be Love" (2014) * "Cliche" (2015) * "Shrug" (2015) Albums: * With Love ''(2013) *''All is Vanity ''(2017) '''Complilation albums:' * The Complete Season 6 Collection ''(2014) '''EPs:' * ''Find Me ''(2011) *''Side A ''(2016) *''Side B ''(2017) Category:Season 6 Category:Mentored by Adam Levine Category:Team Adam Category:3rd place finishers Category:Deceased